Help – first aid kit is out of control

[Eric C]

First of all, I’m not even doing backpacking lately, mostly just day hikes. Having said that, they’re long hikes up the 14ers in Colorado. Sometimes alone, sometimes with a group of friends. With that in mind, my first aid kit is just way too bulky. I’ve attached a picture, below is a list of what’s in there. The big thing I’d like to reduce is the bulky custom containers I bought here years ago that are cylindrical in shape. It would be great to get those tiny blister packs that are samples, but I’m not sure where to get them. Should I just buy a first aid kit commercially? Aside from that, what would you recommend I ditch?

• Almond Soap
• Nasal drops (with allergies nothing ruins sleep more than a stuffy nose)
• Hydrocortisone
• Hand sanitizer
• Benadryl cream
• Compressed washcloths
• Pills
• Towlette
• Adhesive pads
• Emergency signaling mirror
• Emergency light
• Knife
• Dental floss
• Various bandaids and bandages
• Emergency whistle and thermometer
• Sunscreen stick
• Lip balm
• Fire starter
• Pen with duct tape wrapped around it
• Moleskin/blister cushion
• Medical tape
• Water treatment tablets
• Gauze pads
• Antibiotic ointment
• Antiseptic wipes

Like I said, it’s out of control. Aside from getting rid of the cylindrical containers I’m thinking I can reduce the bandages, toss the lip balm (just use the sunscreen), remove the dental floss from the container, leave only one washcloth, get a smaller package of sunscreen, eliminate the whistle (my pack has one), and … any other ideas?

[Ken Thompson]

For all things small,

http://www.minimus.biz

You are not doing as badly as you think compared to some kits that I have seen here. I would certainly loose that yellow whistle and the magnesium block. Get a lighter cutting tool.

[Nick Gatel]

What do you really need? In other words if you are carrying stuff you never use why carry it? Your kit isn’t that large but looks bulky. Probably half the stuff you have isn’t in my FAK and I’ve never needed them.

[Paul S.]

A couple that jump out to me:

• Drop the fire starter.  Use a Mini bic
• if you have your smart phone drop the emergency light and use the phone flashlight
• drop the whistle
• what is the pen for? Carry the duct tape elsewhere if you don’t use the pen for writing.
• I would keep lip balm. I’ve stopped on my way to the trail to buy a replacement when I forgot mine.

Water treatment belongs in a different category in my opinion. You won’t die by drinking untreated water.  What is your main water treatment?

[Matthew / BPL]

I find luekotape to be far superior than moleskin or duct tape for blisters and can be used with gauze to make bandages so it replaces the white tape in my kit too.

I carry a small amount of tenacious tape for gear repairs.

i carry the luekotape and tenacious on silicone liner release paper so it’s flat in my kit eiminating bulk.

Your round dropper bottles are the fat ones. The 3 and 6cc bottles don’t flare out fatter than the caps eliminating bulk.

[Matthew / BPL]

The washcloth? I use a bandana or buff.

+1 extra minibic

Benadryl cream? Why?

i carry pills in some tiny pill baggies.

I have floss/thread/needle in a heat sealed straw just longer than the needle.

I carry the tiny $12 Swiss Army Knife as my primary knife/scissors. I do carry a backup razor blade in my FAK.

[Eric C]

Thanks for the suggestions, great ideas! To summarize:

• Mini bic instead of the fire starter
• Toss the whistle
• Toss the benadryl cream (I have pills)
• Get small packs of liquids to replace the droppers
• Use my buff instead of the washcloths
• Consider leukotape (how does that work on blisters, exactly?)
• Forget the light (I have one of those on my keys, I now remember, as well as a phone)
• Keep the lip balm

Keep the ideas coming!

[Nick Gatel]

You have soap and hand sanitizer. I’ve never used hand sanitizer in my life, even at home. Dr. Bronner’s unscented soap is used for everything. Some people even brush their teeth with it.

How many bandaids and pieces of gauze do you really need?

Here is my first aid kit and other stuff. I no longer use a finger toothbrush but use a child’s toothbrush with the handle intact. I don’t need floss on short trips, my teeth won’t become damaged. When I expect lots of mosquitoes I bring a mini-dropper bottle of DEET. I don’t use sunblock because of my dark complexion.

http://popupbackpacker.com/whats-in-your-first-aidemergency-kit/

 

[Lester Moore]

The pen always seems like the hardest thing to fit inside a ziploc full of first aid supplies, especially the smaller snack-sized ziplocs. You can get a pen with removable head and cap, then cut down the size of both the main pen tube and the inside ink tube, then put the pen back together again to make a shorter pen (see photo below).

Also, Litesmith has a good line of extra small dropper bottles and other useful containers for UL backpacking:
http://www.litesmith.com/mini-dropper-bottles/

[Matthew / BPL]

Luekotape for blisters…

I carry Luekotape on silicone paper, tincture of benzoin in a 3cc dropper bottle and a tiny pill baggie with baby powder (yes officer, it’s baby powder) and a couple alcohol wipes.

The procedure is:

1. alcohol wipe the area that has a hotspot to clean it up
2. benzoin that area so it can start to dry, be sure the benzoin goes past the edge of where you will tape
3. cut luekotape and liner paper with scissors, round corners
4. apply luekotape smoothly
5. dust the visible benzoin with baby powder so your sock doesn’t stick to it

It’s absolutely fantastic and I have worn it for 3 days of hiking including water crossings. Just out of curiosity I wore a dressing as prescribed for more than a week of normal life including standing on my feet most of the day at work (I’m a teacher) and taking showers, walking around barefoot. I got this system from some blog post by a podiatrist that is an ultratrunner.

[Matthew / BPL]

Nice tip on the small pen, Lester!

[David Thomas]

Biggest win: lose the fire starter block for a mini-Bic.

Next: take out the full-sized Swiss-Army Knife and use a Victorinox Classic (21 grams).  It has scissors for cutting tape, moleskin and opening FD food.  It has a knife to do an amputation (just kidding) or butcher a bear (not kidding – seen it done).  Plus toothpick, tweezers, nail file, screw driver, etc.  PM me, I’ll send you a TSA-seized one.

Benadryl pills are in my kit, too.  Skip the Benadryl cream, you could empty a pill (if it is a traditional capsule) and mix it into sunscreen or lip balm for a medicated cream.

+1 on the shift to Leukotape.

I’m going to advocate for some kind of writing implement as sometimes being the most important part of a first aid kit.  Messages get garbled, people embellish – ever play the game “Telephone”?  Rather than a regular ballpoint, a gel pen works in more conditions.  But a short pencil works in even more conditions (NASA spent lots of money to develop a zero-gravity pen during the space program and the Russians just brought a pencil), or a mini-Sharpie.  My SUL writing implement is one of those mini pencils Time magazine used to send out with their solicitations.

That’s a lot of sunscreen.  Do you ever use it all up?  If not, you’re bringing too much.  Find a smaller container and refill it before each trip.

I’ll bring a few bandaids but usually not gauze pads.  If there’s a bad injury, anything works as a dressing to stop the bleeding (bandana, t-shirt, toilet paper) and sterility isn’t important because the trip just ended and they’ll be getting treated with antibiotics soon.  On a remote trip with a large group (last one for us was Colorado River rafting trip), my MD wife will bring a trauma dressing based on bentonite clay that really does stop bleeding faster.  But, in hundreds of days of trips, I’ve only ever tried to get minor and moderate injuries to bleed MORE to flush stuff out.  Losing blood volume has never been an issue.

The mirror isn’t for signaling airplanes (has anyone, ever, in the entire history of the world, ever flagged down a passing plane with a tiny signal mirror?!?).  The mirror is for checking your own face for sunburn, removing a splinter or thorn from your face or backside.  More importantly, it is checking your appearance before you attempt to hitchhike back to your car.  Taking the sticks and leaves out of your hair and wiping the smudges off your face really ups your success rate.  So you only need a mirror on a solo trip.  And the selfie camera on a cell phone does that.

[Eric C]

Thanks for the suggestions, David. I think you’re right about the pen, best to leave that (or a pencil) in.

Regarding the sunscreen, I’m just not sure what I can get in a smaller container. Perhaps one of the websites above sells small packs of sunscreen. Or that might be worth the cost of putting it in one of the white containers in the picture. This was just the smallest thing I could find, and I kind of like that the stick does well in hot temperatures and I don’t have to worry about leaks.

I tried using the signalling mirror once when we had a really bad experience near the top of a 14er, but the people I was trying to reach probably had no idea what was going on. You’re probably right that it wouldn’t be very useful. I have a shaved head, so I don’t have to worry about what my hair looks like. :-)

Sending a PM now.

[David Thomas]

And a better signal for a searching airplane?  Something rectilinear.  This I hear from my 11,000-hour pilot friend whose been a bush and charter pilot for 40 years and watched his father do it before him.  When he’s on a Civil Air Patrol search or flying routine pipeline patrol, he’s looking for something that doesn’t look natural and straight lines don’t look natural.

Big Xs on the beach or stomped into the grass of a meadow.  That sort of thing.

[Matthew / BPL]

I like a mini Sharpie in my FAK. You can outline and write the time on swelling from a snakebite. It writes in the rain. I carry a few feet of surveyors tape which makes a good note marker if the group gets split up or in an SAR situation. Probably overkill but the tape doesn’t register on my gram scale so I’m taking it…

[David Thomas]

+1 on the mini-Sharpie.  What it does better than anything else is make a hitch-hiking sign.  And there’s only one destination you ever have while hitch-hiking and that is for the very next town down the road.  People are more likely to pick you up for a 10-minute ride than a 2-hour ride.  Once you’re in the car and have proven yourself not to be an axe-murder (I should write up that trip sometime!), then tell them you’re hoping to get to Xxxxxx.

+1 on a few feet of day-glo surveyors tape.  My most common use of it is when I’ve stashed food and drink (in odor-free containers) for a death march.  Other’s could use it for caching water in the desert.  I never put it right over my stash, I put it, say, 20 feet south of my stuff.  If it was super important to find it again (like water in the desert), I’d put one very near the trail, 20 feet east of the cache.  And another 20 feet west of the cache in case someone removed the tape closest to the trail.

[J R]

Consider leukotape (how does that work on blisters, exactly?)

Don’t use leukotape on blisters, use it on hotspots before blisters form to prevent them. It sticks very well to skin so if a blister has already formed and you put leukotape on it, when you try to take the tape off it can rip the top of the blister right off along with healthy skin at the edge of the blister (ask me how I know). As Matthew was saying you want to line the adhesive side of th leukotape that will be in contact with the blister — you could fold up a square of tp to place over the blister and then put leukotape over that, but once a blister has formed I find moleskin to be better.

I don’t think your kit is so out of control. If you made all the changes suggested you might save an ounce or two. Some changes make sense (mini Bic for fire starter) but others its about your personal comfort level and may not be worth compromising on that to save a few grams.

[Matthew / BPL]

Yes yes luekotape the hotspot before the blister.

[David Thomas]

And, yes, use TP to make a non-adhesive area for right over a delaminated piece of skin.

Also, you can use TP or a bit of cordage to make a donut to stick on the Leukotape to relieve pressure on blister or aspiring blister on your toes where it was hitting/rubbing on the downhills.  It’s not a perfect solution, but it transfers that pressure to a wider area and saves the smaller spot from getting worse.

[R]

Turns out there’s a variety of ways folks define a first aid kit.

In my med kit:

• ~4 bandiads
• a few gauze pads
• medical tape
• mole skin
• antibiotic goop in a drinking straw
• ibuprofin in a tiny ziploc

That’s it.  I’m lucky enough not to be allergic to much, so I’ve never given much thought to Benadryl.  Some anti-diarrhetic pills wouldn’t be a bad idea.

In my hygiene kit:

• sun block – full half ounce squeeze bottle from TAP plastic
• lip balm
• bug juice (half ounce spray bottle, via REI)
• tiny “single use” tooth brush from the corner drug store
• tooth paste tablets in a tiny ziploc (these are awesome – 1g/ea)
• TP

In my repair kit:

• waxed floss wrapped around a bit of corrugated cardboard
• 2 sewing needles stuck in the cardboard
• duct tape folded over on itself
• adhesive nylon repair patch
• air mattress patch kit
• super glue (also works for sutures)

The only emergency gear I cary is a space blanket and a garbage bag.

In no particular collection of gear, I have a 23g Baladeo single blade knife, compass/thermometer keychain on my pack, a back-up mini Bic, headlamp (no spare battery for short trips), pack towel, bandana, spare phone battery on longer trips, Deuce of Spades 0.6oz trowel.

Things I don’t cary: hand sanitizer, soap, back-up light, mirror, alcohol wipes, scissors.

In use, I like the bottle from TAP Plastic for the sunblock, but with the nozzle insert, it’s a bit tricky to re-fill.  I also picked up a pack of 100 small ziplocks from TAP – slightly smaller than a business card.

I think I’ll pick up a small Sharpie.  I like the children’s tooth brush as a compromise on size for longer trips.  I just discovered that rechargeable coin cell batteries are now available, so I may switch to a smaller head lamp and cary a spare battery (mine currently takes a single AA).  A straight razor blade for the med kit wouldn’t be a bad idea.

 

[Nick Gatel]

I’m trying to remember what I have used from my FAK in the last 10 years.

• a bandaid for a fellow hiker who got a minor puncture wound from the point of a yucca.
• antiseptic wipe for a large blister on the ball of my foot due to an impact injury. The blister was too large for any kind of bandaid. It was difficult to walk the next day and I washed it several times during the day. The third day I was okay.
• a few Advil.

Can’t think of anything else. I usually just bring a razor blade or derma knife. In deserts I usually bring a Classic SAK as the tweezers are useful for removing cactus spines. On long trips the SAK scissors are used to trim toenails.

[Kenneth Keating]

Luekotape can easily be applied over blisters, I do it all the time.  Just rub a little zinc oxide over the blister to prevent the tape from sticking.  Carry zinc oxide in a stirring straw, seal the ends with heat.   Zinc oxide can also be used for other minor skin conditions such as burns, chafing, monkey butt, insect bites and reactions to poison oak and ivy.  Plus it can be used as a sun protectant.  I highly recommend ZO be added to your FAK.

[Kenneth Keating]

If one is prone to blisters, and constantly using tape, i would also recommend carrying some tape adhesive remover wipes such as Hollister # 7760 Universal Remover Wipes.   Leukotape can be quite sticky and the #7760 wipes will remove the residue very quickly.

[Brad P]

If covering a hot spot, cut the tape/moleskin in a circle. It’s less likely to get pealed off than a shape with points.

One thing to keep in mind is the “I never used X” is very much true. Much of a First Aid kit is like insurance you hope to never use. So, what are you willing to carry that will keep you on the trail or allow you to get to help. That can be different for different folks. You’ve never used it yet.

[Eric C]

Great point, Rene, regarding the ambiguity of what consists of a FAK. I’m obviously including other items than first aid in my initial list. This bag is my “always take on hikes, backpacking, camping, etc.” bag. It’s just rather bulky at the moment.

I think you had a good idea that I need to add a space blanket somewhere, and some type of patch kit for air mattresses or water bladders.

[Author]

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